Chapter 2 Sacrificial Lamb

Aella

I shut my bedroom door behind me, leaning against it as if it could barricade me from the life my father has just dictated for me.

The room, once my sanctuary, now feels like a cage-luxurious but suffocating. My eyes scan the plush carpet, the ornate dresser filled with knick-knacks and makeup, and the lavish canopy bed.

All these luxuries, yet I feel like a bird in a gilded cage.

With shaking hands, I grab my phone from the nightstand and dial my best friend, Lily's, number on a secured line reserved for our pack. She's the youngest daughter of my father's Beta and the only one I trust.

She picks up after the second ring. "Aella, hey! What's up?" Her voice, always full of optimism, has never sounded so different to me.

"Lily, I can't... I don't even know how to say this! He's making choices for me and setting me... He's setting me..." My voice wobbles, and I'm disgusted with myself for it.

I'm a future Alpha, for heaven's sake; I should be stronger than this!

"Whoa, slow down. What happened? You're freaking me out," she says, her voice soft but clear and I take a deep breath.

"My father... he's marrying me off to Alpha Roman of the Black Veil pack." The words spill out of my mouth, each syllable like a drop of bitter poison.

She sucks in a breath and remains quiet for a few seconds. "Oh my God, Roman? But isn't he-"

"Ruthless, domineering, cruel? Yeah, he's the poster boy for Alphas you don't want to be tied to for eternity," I say mirthlessly and feeling the dread set in. This is really happening... My father is really doing this to me.

"Fucking hell, Aella," she breathes out. "This Alpha...no one even knows what he looks like. It's said the only ones who have seen his face are his two brothers and the ones who never lived to tell the tale."

"Thanks, this is helping me so much!" I say with sarcasm, knowing the lore and rumors all too well.

She tuts. "Sorry! It's just... With all the rumors, surely your dad wouldn't-"

"He did, Lil. He decided my fate like I'm some sort of prized pony," I say and my eyes drift to my reflection in the mirror. The girl staring back at me looks lost, her eyes laced with a sadness that mirrors my inner turmoil.

Lily's silent for a beat, and I can almost hear her gathering her thoughts. "Okay, listen, rumors are rumors, right? Maybe he's not as bad as people make him out to be. I mean, how many people actually know him personally if no one but his brothers have seen him?"

"Rumors stem from some truths too," I say with a heavy sigh and get up from the bed.

I pace across my room, my eyes passing over pictures of me and Lily from better days, my trophies from various pack competitions, and my study books-all tokens of a life I thought I was building for myself, but now feel like impositions from a script someone else wrote for me.

"You don't get it; this isn't just about Roman. It's about my choice, my life. I'm not just some pawn to be moved across a chessboard for the sake of pack alliances. I thought my father, of all people, would understand that since he was training me!"

I get that this is what's best for the pack, that an Alpha always puts their pack first, but... I breathe out a sigh when my thoughts crash into each other. An Alpha puts their pack first... I'll need to do what's right even if I hate it.

"Aella, you're not a pawn. You were going to be Alpha one day, and making alliances is part of that life. Your father is only doing what he thinks is best for the pack," Lily says, echoing my thoughts.

I am being selfish, aren't I?

"But what about what's best for me?" I ask, my voice barely above a whisper, drowned out by the sudden lump in my throat. I am aware of how selfish I sound right now... darn it.

Another pause on the line, longer this time. "I wish I had an answer for you, Aella, I really do," she says.

The conversation comes to an awkward close. The words 'I love you, and we'll figure this out' hang in the air unsaid, but I know she's thinking them, just as I am. I end the call, tossing my phone on the bed.

Alone, I'm left to confront my reflection again. My eyes meet those of the girl in the mirror, one green and one blue, but it's like looking at a stranger-one who has everything but the freedom to choose her destiny.

With a sigh, I crawl into bed, pulling the blanket around me like a cocoon. As I close my eyes, my mind drifts away from the luxurious room and the life I know.

It wanders into the shadows of dark forests and open skies, a world untamed and unshackled. My dreams become a realm of impossible freedoms, a contrast so stark against my reality that my heart aches.

Yet even within those dreams, I'm running-running towards something elusive and undefined, something terrifying and beautiful. Freedom, maybe, or maybe just the illusion of it. But as my dream self breaks through the final line of trees and stares at the open sky, I know one thing for sure: I can't stay caged any longer.

And with that sobering thought, I drift into a restless sleep, caught between the world I know and the world I yearn for.